I’m proud to present the online debut of the fantastic and fantastical short film The Treehouse from directors A.J. Sheeran and Sam Shapson. After wowing audiences at prestigious film festivals around the nation, The Treehouse is ready to shine publicly via popular video-sharing portal Vimeo. For your convenience I’ve embedded the 10-minute short directly above.

So what is The Treehouse? The official logline goes like this: “The story of a boy who’s lost his mom and a girl who claims her spaceship can find her.” But, oh, it is so much more than that. While grieving the death of his mother, a young boy (Joshua Hunter Magers) connects with a girl (Jacqueline Scislowski) equal his age who claims she’s an alien. Intrigue! And then what? She invites him into a treehouse that mysteriously doubles as a spaceship and together they soar off into space. It’s there that the boy believes he will find his mother’s soul and reunite with her. But it’s not long before he realizes–along with a captivated audience–that this is an unexpected journey of self-discovery and wonder. By the end, this sci-fi expedition will leave you wholly satisfied and simultaneously grasping for interpretation; a second watch, though not required, will surely aid in your formation of a solid theory. Turn on your imagination again and take a plunge into the emotional, gripping tale that is The Treehouse.

[experience-it-all] asked Sheeran, who also penned the short, what his inspiration behind the film was. “It probably comes from the show that I watched religiously and was ingrained in me when I was a little kid–Rugrats,” he said. “The idea of make-believe being completely real in their minds. Because when those babies “went” to the South Pole, they really believed they were there. The last shot of that episode is of the pair of underwear serving as a makeshift flag, right where they left it. We know it didn’t really happen, but what matters is that they believe it did. That’s pure escapism. And that’s kind of what movies do. None of it really happened, but if the characters believe it, so do we. Now, obviously, the tone of The Treehouse is a far cry from Rugrats. But throw in the film Let the Right One In and that’s the nutshell.”

The epic, emotional story that unfolds across The Treehouse rests on the shoulders of two young, bright actors who don’t waste any time to make an impression. Shapson, co-director and editor, worked closely with Magers and Scislowski (aged 11 and 12, respectively, during the making of the short in 2011) and shared what it was like working with such youthful, professional, and mature-beyond-their-years talent. “Working with Jacqueline and Josh was absolutely awesome. They each brought such a strong emotional grasp of the material, despite the heavy and abstract ideas we were exploring. Oh, plus their energy on set. I remember Jacqueline would march around rapping, ‘This. Is. Re. -diculous. These spacemen are so tick-a-lish.’ And on and on. She had all these verses worked out by the end of production. The crew was always in a great mood with those two around.”

Now, go watch it. Watch it again. And don’t be shy–share your theories in the comment section below. How do you interpret The Treehouse? Why?